the valkyries

"... he alternated between looking at Chris and watching the road. He loved his wife, but was getting fed up with marriage. He needed some strong passion in his love, in his work, in almost everything he did in his life. And that went against one of nature's most important laws: Every movement needs a pause at times.

He knew that if he continued the way he was, nothing in his life would last very long. He was beginning to understand what J. had meant when he said that people wind up killing what they love most."

what about those who don't know they're killing someone they love? those who repeatedly justify their actions as a normal thing for them even if it's evident they're "murdering" those whom they should hold dear and near to their heart? would that mean that the love they have for them is shallow, false and at times a figment of their imagination? love that they say they have but cannot allow it to manifest itself once they're with the person they claim to love? could such a lie ever exist?


"Love was worth everything, and couldn't be exchanged for anything."

for those of us who love someone deeply, could you ever say that it was worth it? right now, i couldn't say the same. i'm thinking of trying to exchange this so-called love for peace of mind, dignity, a heart that has healed or even the truth that i hope would set me free...



i am currently reading:

paulo coelho's 'the valkyries'

work, work and work

sometimes, people think that having out-of-town trips or assignments are the best way to wiggle your way out of things that need to be done in the office. yes you do get to drink in the lovely sights that place has to offer but, what they don't realize is that the work isn't a 9 - 5 thing. in subic, our schedule was a 9 a.m. - 3 a.m. thing every single day!



while waiting for their turn in the shower, tuesday (L) & marlet are resting & getting things ready for our "meeting"



above: (L-R) mackie texting, tuesday working on the laptop and ian, who wasn't sure if he was in the picture or not

below: (L-R) marlet, mackie & ian (partially in the frame) discussing the day's events...



and where was i? well, i was the photographer...but don't worry, i was still in the meeting...

culinary images

mongkok's siomai



mongkok's lemon chicken & salted fish fried rice



one of my faves in subic: pacific grill's mouth-watering t-bone steak...

oh dear, it's time for lunch!

monkeying around

due to the timetable we have for setting up subic, our compnay decided to rent out a place long-term like 3 - 6 months. we're staying at crown peak in cubi point. most people know that when you say in the same breath, it's near the monkeys and the bat kingdom. although we haven't had the luxury of actually checking out the bat kingdom and the monkey trail, it seems as if our monkey friends, checked us out. these pictures were taken just outside our room.

tales from subic - part 3

more pics...



those were some pictures taken from part of the boardwalk




here we are (L-R): deliberating after the training session & at "home" - mackie, tuesday, me & ian

the hardest things

i visited ny niece-in-law's blog (jen, thank you very much! i miss you...) and found this interesting post which i swiped and edited to capture some of the things that have been going through my mind lately...

THE HARDEST THINGS (some of them...)

a. Realizing that you have been TRICKED after you have given your WHOLE TRUST
b. Letting GO of someone you've LOVED ALL YOUR LIFE
c. Bracing yourself for the worst kind of pain... & still hurting so much
d. Loving someone too much and learning to love the pain that goes with it...

"Take chances, make mistakes. That's how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave."

funny how we can experience a whole gamut of emotions and they are somehow all "related". you shift from one emotion to the next as fluidly as possible.

i know that when my friends and family chance upon this post of mine they'll be intrigued to no end. even if i'd like to explain what it all means, ibalato nyo na lang sa akin 'to. then, just say a prayer for me...

bring on the toothpicks

i am so damn sleepy :( it doesn't help my workload right now requires sitting in front of the computer to finish databases and a bit of research as well....i say bring on the toothpicks so that i can prop my eyelids up to stay awake!!!

espresso please... but i doubt if it'll help....

actually i haven't had time to sleep really well lately...i guess it happens when your in a shitty phase of your life...

tales from subic - part II

of course, all work and no play makes life so damn boring. good thing all of us who were assigned to subic made up a crazy bunch!




(L-R) marlet & ian on the bus; waiting for mack & tuesday @ the Tipo Gate - SBMA & ian, deranged during lunch





(L-R) marlet puckering up; find the lady 'plastered' to the glass wall, that's marlet & going home with 'rambo tuesday'

tales from subic

before if you'd tell me you went to subic, i would've thought it was also clark. i always believed they were the same banana. but a couple of posts ago, i mentioned we had a subic call center project. well, since i joined reynolds review, i've been there a lot and surprisingly, the place does grow on you.



this is the view from our subic bay yacht club room window; it was raining hence the 'gloomy' sky

after negotiations and paperwork, we were ready to roll. first up on the agenda: agent's training. we had almost 300 people to train so, that meant 6 groups with a manageable class size of 50 per group. american culture & geography, customer service, accent and sales were the modules they had to go through.












this is the facade of bldg. 61-a where all the sessions were held













here are some shots of the class i handled for accent

the initial training ended sept. 8 with a third of the trainees passing and moving on to the next phase of training. we may have another group after a couple of months so it'll be another round of intonation, pitch, vowel sounds and consonant sounds for me...